This innovative Research Handbook brings together leading international law scholars from around the world to discuss and highlight the contemporary debate regarding issues of conflict prevention and the legality of resorting to the use of armed force through to those arising during an armed conflict and in the phase between conflict and peace. The Handbook covers key conceptual topics drawn from across the three areas of jus ad bellum, jus in bello and jus post bellum. The subject matter of the included chapters range from conflict prevention through to reparation and compensation, via coverage of issues such as disarmament, the role of the Security Council, self-defense, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect, targets, war crimes, private military contractors, peacekeeping, and the protection of human rights. Being the first to examine topics under these areas in one volume, the book will be of interest to scholars, academics, postgraduate and research students as well as government lawyers from various disciplinary backgrounds looking for a contemporary grounding in issues under the broad theme of international conflict and security law. Contributors: C. Bell, R. Cryer, C. De Cock, C. Gray, V. Hadzi-Vidanovic, M. Happold, C. Henderson, K. Hulme, D. Kritsiotis, C. Lehnardt, K. Manusama, M. Milanovic, M.E. O'Connell, A. Orakhelashvili, N. Ronzitti, T. Ruys, M. Sossai, N. Tsagourias, D. Turns, N.D. White, R. Wilde

This innovative Research Handbook brings together leading international law scholars from around the world to discuss and highlight the contemporary debate regarding issues of conflict prevention and the legality of resorting to the use of armed force through to those arising during an armed conflict and in the phase between conflict and peace. The Handbook covers key conceptual topics drawn from across the three areas of jus ad bellum, jus in bello and jus post bellum. The subject matter of the included chapters range from conflict prevention through to reparation and compensation, via coverage of issues such as disarmament, the role of the Security Council, self-defense, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect, targets, war crimes, private military contractors, peacekeeping, and the protection of human rights. Being the first to examine topics under these areas in one volume, the book will be of interest to scholars, academics, postgraduate and research students as well as government lawyers from various disciplinary backgrounds looking for a contemporary grounding in issues under the broad theme of international conflict and security law. Contributors: C. Bell, R. Cryer, C. De Cock, C. Gray, V. Hadzi-Vidanovic, M. Happold, C. Henderson, K. Hulme, D. Kritsiotis, C. Lehnardt, K. Manusama, M. Milanovic, M.E. O'Connell, A. Orakhelashvili, N. Ronzitti, T. Ruys, M. Sossai, N. Tsagourias, D. Turns, N.D. White, R. Wilde

This book provides a concise account of the principles and norms of international law applicable to the main-type of international organisation - the inter-governmental organisation (IGO). That law consists of principles and rules found in the founding documents of IGOs along with applicable principles and rules of international law. The book also identifies and analyses the law produced by IGOs, applied by them and, occasionally, enforced by them. There is a concentration upon the United Nations, as the paradigmatic IGO, not only upon the UN organisation headquartered in New York, but on other IGOs in the UN system (the specialised agencies such as the World Health Organisation). -- .

This book provides a concise account of the principles and norms of international law applicable to the main-type of international organisation - the inter-governmental organisation (IGO). That law consists of principles and rules found in the founding documents of IGOs along with applicable principles and rules of international law. The book also identifies and analyses the law produced by IGOs, applied by them and, occasionally, enforced by them. There is a concentration upon the United Nations, as the paradigmatic IGO, not only upon the UN organisation headquartered in New York, but on other IGOs in the UN system (the specialised agencies such as the World Health Organisation). -- .

This new edition considers the unifying legal attributes that span vastly differing inter-governmental organisations, from the UN to the EU. A law of international organisations has become established in certain areas, such as legal personality, powers, membership, finance, and decision-making. In other, newer, areas - accountability, responsibility and democracy - politics is still much rawer, and has not yet been fully converted into legal concepts and principles. As with the first edition, there are plenty of examples of organisations given in the text. Individual organisations dealing with issues such as security, health, civil aviation, finance and trade are scrutinised by way of example, to illustrate how different they can be, but also to show how it is possible to debate a set of legal principles that transcend each institution. This new edition of an established text will appeal to students and academics as well as individuals seeking a legal and political insight into international organisations. -- .

To what extent does the United Nations system work? This comprehensive survey of the world's most important family of international organizations examines the UN's structure and powers, and considers whether it is achieving what it set out to do. Focusing on legal rather than political issues, White first examines the UN's objectives, not only as defined in the original charter and the constituent documents of its various agencies, but also in terms of how its goals and values have been implemented. He then explores its institutional structure, explaining each body's powers and the relationships among them; here, he also evaluates the various bodies in terms of democratic accountability and transparency. In the core of the book, a wide-ranging review of UN activities, he assesses whether the organization has sufficient powers to implement its goals in the key areas of security, justice, human rights, the environment and economic development.

There have been a number of EU military operations in the last few years, evidence of a growing European military confidence, which in turn is a reflection of a developing competence in security matters. The creation of the European Union and its Common Foreign and Security Policy by the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 heralded this development, though the idea of a common defense can be traced to the beginnings of European integration. This book provides an analysis of the EU's evolving legal framework and powers on such matters, but it also recognizes that such a framework sits, sometimes uneasily, within the wider body of EU and International Law. The EU's security and defense policy also overlaps with those of other organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), but more especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). EU relations with NATO have, in particular, caused some concern and are still evolving as both organizations seek to play a wider security role in the post-Cold War, and now post-9/11, era. With security now dominating political agendas at the domestic, regional and international levels, it is no surprise that the EU's concern for security has grown, and, following the Union's respect for the rule of law, has been shaped legally as well as politically. This book evaluates the progress of the Union in this regard in its international context and in its wider context of European integration generally. The analysis is in the main a legal one, but is placed squarely within wider historical and political perspectives.

With the end of the Second World War a new world order arose based on the prohibition of military force in international relations, and yet since 1945 British troops have been regularly deployed around the globe: most notably to Korea, Suez, Cyprus, and the Falklands during the Cold War; and Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq since the fall of the Berlin Wall. British forces have been involved in many different capacities: as military observers, peacekeepers, peace-enforcers, state-builders and war-fighters. The decisions to deploy forces are political ones made within several constitutional frameworks, national, regional and international. After considering the various legal and institutional regimes, this book examines the decision to deploy troops from the perspective of international law.
In its military interventions Britain has consistently tried to utilize international law to justify its actions, though often it argues against orthodox interpretation of the laws. In gauging whether its actions are in breach of international law we can again make judgments at different levels using various forms of accountability - from judicial fora (for example the International Court of Justice in The Hague or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg), to political ones (the UN General Assembly in New York or the House of Commons in Westminster). While this book examines international and regional mechanisms, tumultuous debates on the Suez crisis, Afghanistan, Iraq and others in the House of Commons and its Committees are highlighted to show how international law impacts upon domestic politics. In considering whether democratic accountability is effective in upholding the principles of international law, this book throws new light on an old democracy, and thereby makes a contribution to the current reform proposals that are aimed at improving democratic decision-making.